This invention relates generally to accurate selection and installation of vehicle wheels and tires, and more specifically concerns provision of apparatus and methods to achieve such selection and installation, rapidly and accurately.
In the past, vehicle tires, installed on metallic wheels, were selected by visually estimating the sizes of tires and wheels to be installed. Generally this required installation of a series of wheels and tires, until a satisfactory fit of a wheel and tire to the vehicle wheel well space was achieved. Such procedures were inefficient, time consuming and required time and labor to mount several wheels, with different tires until the desired result was achieved. The problems included interference, or potential interference, of oversize tires with fenders and fender edges, particularly during wheel turning, and interference with vehicle structure, such as struts, shock absorbers, tie rods, and other vehicle equipment facing the wheel well. The problems became acute when it was desired to install wide or larger size tires as on racing vehicles. No way was known to achieve the highly advantageous results and methods of wheel and tire size selection, as are now provided by the present invention.